Financial planner Mark Balasa and Morningstar's Christine Benz and David Blanchett tackled viewers' most pressing retirement questions, from determining savings rates and income needs to planning for Social Security and maximizing retirement accounts.

Recent Fed action has laid the foundation for an inflationary environment in the U.S., and those looking to protect their portfolios should take a hard look at currencies, says Axel Merk of Merk Investments.

During his keynote presentation at the Morningstar Investment Conference, the PIMCO manager made the case that high debt levels and a need for financial stability mean that centralbanks should keep real rates close to zero for some time.